


Hose

by glassgoblin



Series: Random Rogues [15]
Category: Star Wars Legends: X-wing Series - Aaron Allston & Michael Stackpole, Star Wars: Rebellion Era - All Media Types
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-12-26
Updated: 2014-12-26
Packaged: 2018-03-03 17:00:41
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 730
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2858252
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/glassgoblin/pseuds/glassgoblin
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>It is the little things that are sometimes the most annoying.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Hose

**Author's Note:**

> Part of a short-short challenge.

He hadn’t noticed the noise until after the battle was finished and they were on their way back to base, a short hyper jump of two hours. Sitting in the cockpit of his X-Wing, with the thrum of the engines and little else to distract him, the slight whishing noise was hard to ignore though. Something sounded off in the engine, and Tycho wasn’t sure what it was.

His R2 unit completed a diagnostic of the systems it could control and found no malfunctions, but the noise persisted. In fact, the noise got worse, getting louder and becoming more of a rattle. It made him nervous. Something must have been jarred loose when he had that near miss; the repercussion of a close detonation maybe jolting the inner workings of the mechanical parts. He frowned and asked the R2 to run another diagnostic, and to speculate on what might be causing the sound.

They ran through the list of fuel lines, electrical wiring, control panel connections, and everything else that they could both think of, but the tests were inconclusive. Whatever made the noise must be working enough that it wasn’t noticed, but loose enough to drive him slowly crazy with that gradually increasing noise. Tycho took a deep breath, wishing he could rub the back of his head to relieve some of the tension he was developing. His flight helmet prevented him from that action, and though he considered taking it off, it would be more hassle to put it back on if the noise developed into something more serious.

More serious? He laughed at himself, he sounded like Hobbie; assuming the worst over something that might not even be a problem. Maybe it was just a piece of shrapnel caught in the nose cone of the X-Wing, something that caught in the paneling and was just moving because of the velocity at which he traveled. It could be something as simple as that. However, his mind went to another scenario; maybe it was a piece of shrapnel and it was working its way free. It could fly back at the cockpit, hitting with enough force to penetrate. If it went through the top of his cockpit it could hit him or cause more shrapnel which could hit him; he could be shredded as he sat there and there was nothing he could do to prevent it.

Tycho sat up straighter, checking his instruments and the countdown to reversion. An hour until he reached base with the other Rogues. He wasn’t prone to worry, though he did like to be thorough and prepared for any possible outcome. For some reason he couldn’t shake this pessimistic mood though, and he blamed it entirely on Hobbie and the comment he had made before the mission. “Just for once, I’d like to be the one who doesn’t have any problems during battle. Can someone else take over, please?” Apparently Tycho’s X-Wing agreed and decided to do just that.

He glared at the instrument panel, which still showed that everything was normal, and tried to ignore the sound of the rattling which was still getting louder. Leaning back he sighed and closed his eyes, trying to distract himself by thinking of music to fill his head. It was not a perfect solution, but it did help until it was finally time to revert to normal space and make the flight in to the base.

He set his X-Wing down in the hanger, in formation and near to Wedge. Thankfully as the ship stopped moving the noise also stopped and there was a moment of force-blessed silence. Tycho stayed in his cockpit a little longer than usual, just to enjoy the quiet, but finally roused himself when he noticed Wedge standing outside. His commanding officer, and friend, was staring at the front of his ship and shaking his head.

Wedge looked up at him as he descended from the cockpit. “Do you know how lucky you are?” He pointed at the pitting that scored the underside of the nose cone, “You have battle damage, and if that loose hose had rubbed against those two exposed wires you would have been pulled from hyperspace and probably would have become a nice big flash of light.”

Tycho looked closely at what Wedge was pointing out, “I guess I didn’t get all of Hobbie’s luck after all.”


End file.
